There were many chiefs,
but there were two
strong chiefs. Chief White Feather talked about peace
and wanted to help white people, but asked territorial authorities about keeping white people
and other tribes from settling on tribal hunting grounds.

The
other great chief was known as Black Bird (other story said Black Bear) and he wanted
white settlers to leave Indian lands and would kill them if they didn't
leave.

I
don't remember if grandma told me all of that
story, but she frequently, and with tears in her
eyes, spoke of Indian tribes driven from
Illinois to Iowa, later to Kansas and Oklahoma.

Grandma told
of many battles, some I have forgotten, but
rememberIn
a general way what happened. One side had the backing
of a large tribe, but that support was bought off by the government.
Without military support, the Indian leaders had to surrender.

In
the context of time and other collateral events, and from history in
high school, I
believe the names grandma used were wrong, what grandma was speaking
of was probably,
"The Black hawk War". It is not
too much of a stretch for me to realize that our
Chief Black Bird could be the same as War Chief Black
Hawk.